CONFIDENTIAL
BRIEF NO, G 1 EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY
PART III
BACKGROUND NOTES
FIJI
If Britain enters the Community, we would hope that Fiji,
like most of the other Dependent Territories, would he offered
association under Part IV of the Treaty of Rome This would
entitle her exports, except those within the scope of the
common agricultural policy, to free entry into the Community.
It would also make Fiji eligible to receive aid from the
European Development Fund.
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Fiji is, however, dependent on sugar for more than half
her export earnings, and a large proportion of these
are from shipments to Britain. Under the Commonwealth Sugar
Agreement, Fiji has a guaranteed market in Britain for
140,000 long tons of sugar a year at an agreed price now
standing at £47.10. per ton. The Agreement runs until the
end of 1974.
3. Sugar is a commodity covered by the common agricultural
policy. Thus, the association of Fiji with the Community
would not of itself ensure that exports of sugar from Fiji
had access to the Community. The Community's regime for sugar
involves the imposition of a variable levy on imports from
third countries. As a result, domestic supplies are cheaper
than imports, and, by guaranteeing a high price to its
farmers, the Community ensures that domestic production
reaches or even surpasses demand. If Britain entered the
Community without making special arrangements for the
Commonwealth sugar producers, they would gradually be shut out
of the British market and their place taken by producers in
Britain and the Six,
CONFIDENTIAL
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